Recently I had dinner with two phenomenal women – amazing women actually. Each exceptionally accomplished. Yet firmly grounded in the reality of living – the good, the bad, the important, the yucky, and all matters of chaos, messiness and muddlings that get mixed throughout the living.

What was wonderfully striking about our dinner was the absence of chit-chat. We immediately engaged in the sincere discussion of living lives. The values we bring to the living. How those values challenge and enlighten the living. Where we find support for living our values. The values that matter and how we go after more of those values.

Yes, absolutely build your ark before the flood. And absolutely, positively stuff it to overflowing with Amazings.

Amazings who honor and value you. Amazings who care about perfectly, perfect you with all of your glaring imperfections and foibles. Amazings who stand arm-in-arm with you on your ark or around a dinner table.

In 1945 when singer and pianist Nina Simone was just 12 years old, her parents tried to sit up front to see her piano recital. They were moved to the back to make room for white guests. Simone refused to play until her parents were moved back up front and her lifelong involvement with civil rights was born.

It takes courage and fortitude to advocate for your values whether you’re 12, 32, 62 or 102. Advocating for your values is not for the faint of heart. You will lose friends. You will be called names. You will be ridiculed. You may be threatened.

Having the courage to stop the show insures the music you value will play on for a lifetime and beyond.

Let your perfectly, perfect voice sing your beautiful song because no one can sing it like you can!